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Puntius tetrazona

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Overview:
One of the most popular species we keep today. Through selective breeding
many different variations are on the market. They tend to nip fins so
it is best to keep them in groups of six or more.

General Body Form
Tall and stocky with a large Caudal Penducle. This barb has no Barbels.
Males are slimmer with brighter colors.

Coloration
There are many different variations of the Tiger Barb available today.
They range from the Albino to the Green, I will describe the "original"
and in my opinion the prettiest, here. Counting the eye stripe there
are four wide Black-Blue bands running across the body The third band
starts at the Black base of the Dorsal fin and extends down to the start
of the Anal fin. The Dorsal and Anal fins are a bright Red-Orange and
the rest of the fins are a paler shade of Red. The rest of the body
is a Brown-Orange color and the Back is almost like an Olive Green.
The scales viewed under the right light have an iridescent Gold or Brass
look to them. Beautiful!

Maintenance
The only drawback to these fish is their tendency to nip the fins of
fish in the tank, especially angels. Single specimens tend to be aggressive
and should not be kept. Tiger Barbs should be kept in a school of at
least six fish. The tank should be sparsely planted with plenty of open
space for swimming with a sandy bottom for digging. Feeding is not a
problem as they will accept all types of food including flake and frozen,
don't overfeed as they are ravenous eaters and will eat all you give
them. They prefer a temperature of between 73° and 82°F and
a pH of 6 to 7.5 with soft to hard water.

Biotope
Bottom areas of slow moving and calm waters on Sumatra and its' other
locals.

Breeding

Male tiger Barbs are slimmer and more colorful than the females.
They breed similar to other Barb species. The breeding tank should
have a thin layer or no substrate and a few leafy plants and be as
large as possible. Condition the spawners with the best food possible
for a few days before transferring them to the breeding tank. They
usually will spawn the morning after being introduced to the tank,
a partial water change can also induce spawning. The female is the
more active partner and will lead in the courtship. After chasing
and false matings the pair will spawn in the plants, with the partners
coming alongside each other and the male twisting around the female.
The eggs are scattered among the plants and they can be quite large
in number. Tigers, like most Barbs are spawn eaters and should be
removed from the tank right after mating. The transparent eggs will
hatch in about 24 hours at a temperature of 75° and the small
young must be fed the finest of food like Brine shrimp Nauplii, once
a little growth has taken place they are fairly easy to raise.

Please remember that
the following comments are personal experiences and may or may
not apply to your setup. Use them as guide to help better understand
your fish, like us all individuals will behave differently under
different circumstances.

From: CyneahDate:01/14/2015 I have a 75g
tank with 10 tiger barbs, 8 Serpae Tetras, rainbow shark and 5
Silver dollars. Everyone gets along very well. The rainbow shark
doesn't mess with anyone, sometimes during feeding, he chases
a tiger barb. The tiger barbs sometimes try to harass a silver
dollar, but they just turn and look at them and off they go. I
love the tiger barbs, they always swim up to the front of the
tank when I approach.
From: DavidDate:09/14/2010 First do your
research. Second when getting tigers buy a school. I have 12 in
a planted 60 gal with many other fish, they so very well and are
amazing to watch. But yes, getting only 2 or 3 would most likely
turn out bad for any peaceful dish you have. These fish are wonderful
and really take very little work, only consideration I would advise
is keeping a school of 8+.
From: StuartDate:09/7/2010 In my experience
of these (they were one of the first tropical fish I bought) most
"reviews" are false for the past 3-4 years Iv had tigers share
a 7ft long x2ft high x1ft wide tank with a betta splendens (male
and female),guppies,sailfin mollys, glowlight tetras, cardinal
tetras, otocinclus and 2x kissing gourami with a few bronze corys
Iv never had any problems whatsoever with fin nipping and they
fit in perfectly to my "reed bed" as for vertically striped angels
they see them as one of them (shape and colours are similar) so
they class them as one of there shoal so obviously its going to
get the same treatment they give each other.
From: Hannah DavisDate:07/14/2010 I've noticed a
trend with people's negative comments involving tiger barbs, and
it seems the majority of people do not get the recommended number-
7+. Tiger barbs are schooling fish and don't do well in groups
less than 7-8. General rule is 7+ and your barbs will keep to
themselves. I prefer 10+ with a rule of more females than males.
Mine do just great in their well planted 55, the male's flashy
spawning colors are fantastic!
From: LeeDate:05/12/2010 I recently got
my first tank, I got it all set up with a custom made stand a
55 gallon tank, got my filter and my heater, set up my air pump
and had all my ornaments, and after a little while with having
it running I was finally ready to add some fish. Well at first
I got myself two angel fish, and two rainbow sharks. I brought
them home and they seemed to be doing great. I then went back
to petsmart some time later and wanted to add to my tank. I asked
the employee what other fish would go good with my setup. They
had told me that any fish with a green label (on there displays)
will go good with one another. So then from a distance I spotted
the beautiful and entertaining tiger barbs. So I got two of them.
I took them home and put them in the tank and they seemed to hate
one another and soon they turned on the angel fish. I have sense
had two angel fish killed from my tiger barbs, so I started doing
some research online and I have read that tiger barbs tend to
keep the shenanigans to them selves as long as they are in a school
of at least 6 or more. So my advice is to get fish that are just
as fast and even bigger if possible. I love my tiger barbs but
my wife does not like the fact that they kill her angel fish.
From: Lori Date:03/10/2010 I have owned tiger
barbs on several occasions. My husband and I recently obtained
a 55 gallon tank and stocked it with 4 tiger barbs 3 albino tiger
barbs, several cichlids , catfish and a variety of other barbs.
Since I have had prior experience with these fish I already knew
of their aggressiveness and their loving of eating at soft finned
fish. In a weeks time I have had a pair mate and all is well.
It was an amazing sight. There have been no disruptions with the
other species in the tank. You have to carefully choose the fish
species that will house with barbs. Definitely go to a professional
fish store for information not Wal-Mart or Petsmart. I have what
is called an aggressive community tank and love it. Everyone seems
to get along just fine not to mention that it is a beautiful tank
of colors and depth ranges. Good luck to you and yours.
From: Vix Date:11/04/2008 I've never had
any fin nipping problems in my tank. Even though for a while I
had a single tiger barb with 3 guppies and a couple cherry barbs.
(He was alone because his buddies slowly died off one by one).
Singly he was one of the most skittish fish I ever owned. Now
with 5 more of his own kind, I still do not have fin nipping problems.
Tiger barbs have been just plain fun to watch. They really do
have their own personalities. But they really do best in a minimum
of 20 gallons.
20 gallon - 1.5 years
10 gallon - 2 years
55 gallon - 3 months
From: Dean Date:10/21/2008 I agree with Clif.
I have a community tank with 10 Tiger Barbs and 6 Albino Barbs.
If you want to keep barbs go with as many as your tank will accommodate
without over-crowding...Afterall it's great to see them schooling.
Tank mates should be both fast, hardy and larger if possible.
My barb tank mates are 2 pearl gouramis and 2 geophagus cichlids
-- both hold their own with the barbs. There is rarely any fin
nipping between species.
From: Clifton Irwin Date:10/11/2008 It's really sad
to read so many negative comments about Tiger Barbs. I have a
school of seven and would not have a tank without them. I have
them in my 124 litre Community tank with no problems. They chase
and play with each other not giving the others much notice. As
a mater of fact the rainbow shark tends to bother them more than
the other way around. I think the trick is to get them as young
and small as possible. That way they grown with the other inhabitants
of the tank. Just my point of view. Cheers Clif
From: Lori Date:10/26/2007 When I started
my tank I got 2 Tiger Barbs, 2 Long-Fin Rosy Barbs and a Cory
Cat Fish. The Rosys would chase each other playfully and the Tiger
Barbs seemed OK until one of them became substantially bigger
than the other. The bigger one constantly chased and nipped at
the smaller one, until he hid. Eventually I came home one day
and found the smaller Tiger Barb so chewed up and nearly dead,
and witnessed the larger Tiger Barb gnawing at him some more,
unopposed because he was so close to death. Anyway the smaller
Tiger Barb didn't survive (obviously) so I went to the store and
they said either I could buy 3 more Tiger Barbs and hope they
school or get some other fish that are more peaceful. I opted
to get other fish, but apparently the Tiger Barb that I had left
had no intention of leaving my tank in peace. One of my new fish
was a Clown Loach, and the exact SECOND that he was in the water
the Tiger Barb aggressively chased him around the tank. The Clown
Loach hid.. Eventually came out, and the Tiger Barb chased him
again. I eventually was able to catch the Tiger Barb (who was
not easy to get with the net!), but the damage had been done.
The Clown Loach was under so much stress that he didn't eat and
died the next day. Be careful with Tiger Barbs, they are beautiful
and fun to watch, but they are extremely territorial and can be
lethal if not kept in large enough groups.

I wanted to tell this story because the person who sold me
only two Tiger Barbs failed to mention that fact to me! Had
I known as much about Tiger Barbs then as I do now, I never
would have bought only 2 in the first place.

From: Robert Date:06/21/2007 Be careful with
tiger barbs. I bought three adult tiger barbs and put them in
a 30 gal tank with four mollies. The barbs didn't swim around
much. They just hovered in the same spot most of the time. The
same was true with the mollies. When I found out the barbs should
really be kept in larger groups I got three more babies. The barbs
started swimming around much more but they became much more aggressive
too. A couple months later I added seven male guppies and BOY
that was a big mistake. The next morning one of the guppies had
its tail completely torn to shreds. The next morning five of the
guppies were missing. I can only imagine the horror they must
have experienced in during the night. The bottom line, if you
keep tiger barbs keep them in large groups with other aggressive
fish.
From: Liz Date:01/20/2006 The biggest problem
that I'm reading with your complaints about barbs is that you
are keeping slower moving fish with them. I have 6 (3 albino and
3 regular) and don't have a problem with nipping. I had 3 larger
barbs in my last tank and quickly learned that barbs do not like
angel fish. If you feed 2-3 times a day and keep other fast moving
fish, or even gouramis, tiger barbs pose no threat.
From: CarloDate:07/14/2006 I have three albino
tiger barbs and three regular tiger barbs. I thought they would
school with each other, and I would have both six tiger barbs
and still have some variety, but they don't. They clearly hang
around in groups of three and three. I have not had problems with
aggression, except at first, with the albinos. I solved the problem
by taking the fish that had been attacked (his tail was completely
eaten off, and I thought he was going to die) and placing him
in a breeders net for separation and so he could eat in peace.
Once his tail grew back and he could swim, I released him into
the tank, and then put him back as soon as there was aggression.
Every day. After four days, the aggression stopped, and I've have
no problem since. They are great fish, very alert and interested
in everything that's going on, and they enjoy chasing each other
all around the tank.